With her thirtieth birthday looming, Emma Harrison finds her biological clock clanging and the elusive knight in shining armor yet to appear. She's running out of options, especially after her gay best friend backs out from being her sperm donor. Of course, there's always a sperm bank, but Emma fears a donor mix-up might impregnate her with the spawn of Satan.

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Publisher's Summary

With her 30th birthday looming, Emma Harrison finds her biological clock clanging and the elusive knight in shining armor yet to appear. She's running out of options, especially after her gay best friend backs out from being her sperm donor. Of course, there's always a sperm bank, but Emma fears a donor mix-up might impregnate her with the spawn of Satan.

Resident company womanizer, Aidan Fitzgerald, is used to always getting what he wants, especially in the bedroom. When Emma spurns his advances at the company Christmas party, he's determined to have her no matter what it takes. After Aidan learns of Emma's predicament, he is quick to offer a proposition that will benefit them both. He will father Emma's child, but she must conceive it with him naturally. Not one for hook-ups or casual sex, Emma is reluctant to take him up on his offer, but his charm, coupled with her intense desire for motherhood, wins out.

Soon their baby-making sessions become more than just physical. Aidan can't seem to walk away from her while Emma begins to wonder if Aidan could be the one. But can Aidan leave his past behind to become the man Emma needs him to be?

I've always been a avid reader so now I'm a avid listener. I prefer the paranormal genre but I do like to switch things up. It's boring if you don't have variety. Of course I do love the romance and the hotter the better. Also, you can't beat a good thriller filled with suspense and a ending you can't even guess at until the very end.

To begin with the reason I got this book was because Justine O’Keef narrated it. She is one of my favorite narrators and the story sounded interesting, so I got it. I love Justine’s male voices. For some reason it just thrills my ears, especially in the sexual context.

So we have Emma who wants to have a baby and her friend, Connor, who’s gay, backs out on being her sperm donor. Aidan, a womanizer, whom happens to work in the same company with Emma, sees his chance and makes his proposition.

It was just so cute how Emma gets under Aiden’s skin. It’s supposed to be sex to make a baby but you can see how Emma and Aidan are becoming entwined into each other’s life. Emma meets Aiden’s family and his dog. He’s not what she expected. She’s much more than he expected. I really can’t say too much more because I’m going to give out too many spoilers. I do have to say the first time they have sex after Emma finds out she is pregnant is so cute.

Sometimes a book flows for me, sometimes not. This one did! I love romantic fiction due to the fact I don’t have to over think things and just go with the flow of the book. After all it is fiction and that’s my whole purpose of listening to it. I love to escape to a fantasy world that is totally unrealistic. This one was written and performed well enough for me to go there and enjoy the ride.

I did realize before I got this one that there is another one in this series that comes out in a few weeks and I will be getting that one to finish up this story. It was worth my credit and I enjoyed it so much I listened to it in one sitting.

I really wanted to like this book but it was just too cheesy for me. I thought the concept was good for a story-line but the execution just fell flat. It lacked any real character development and the whole thing just felt too unrealistic. A woman who isn’t even 30 yet is so desperate to have a child that she agrees to let the office man-whore get her pregnant. Really? These are successful and professional people who mostly act childish. I just couldn’t understand the motivation by any of these characters.

I enjoy light and fluffy romance books but this was just too clichéd and cheesy for me. Not to mention I did not enjoy the narrator which completely shocked me. This is the same narrator of “Sinners on Tour” but she was just off with this one.

Overall I can’t recommend this book.

BEWARE: This book has no real ending. It is a too-be-continued with book 2 – The Proposal.

While I enjoy "fantasy", when writing in 2012, don't set up the characters as educated professionals with good jobs and then have them behaving outrageously at the office.If set in the mid 70's, perhaps I could have stomached the office gossip about sexual experiences, having sex in the office, and having alcoholic drinks at lunch during the workday. I endured 2 1/2 hours but couldn't go further.

What do you think your next listen will be?

Not this author.

Which character – as performed by Justine O. Keef – was your favorite?

originally, i read this book when it first came out on my kindle. loved it! thought i'd try the audio version and thankfully i only paid two dollars for both this book and its sequel.

i'm not sure how i feel about this audio version. sometimes i enjoyed, but then other times i thought the voices were too shrill and aiden's voice bothered me all the time. he almost sounded like an idiot and not a smart executive.

I love this narrator. I think she does an excellent job of telling the story. This book was surprisingly good. I can’t say it was amazing but I really liked the chemistry between Emma and Aidan. I also like that she has some backbone and didn't just cave to nice words and flowers for an apology. This book has an interesting premise if not a bit unbelievable. Aidan is a bad boy womanizer and Emma is the smart executive. They end up on a baby making contract that takes them both for a ride. I do have to say that this book is not going to be something that you remember but it was a fun listen and kept me interested enough to get the second book. So if you go into with expectation of being a good book, but not awesome then you won't be disappointed.

I feel cheated, I was really enjoying this book when it ends in the middle of the story. At first I thought it hadn't finished downloading, then I found out there is a second book "The Proposal". You have to buy "The Proposal" to read the second half of the story. Its not a series, Its one book divided into two books. The performance: I didn't like the narrator at first but she grew on me and I enjoyed it after a chapter or two.

The narration was just fine, but the story was a bit boring. I may just not be a romance novel reader, but it seems like everything is an attempt at the 50 Shades idea right now. I am just glad this had been a Free book club offering.

I would probably not listen to it again because I have so many audiobooks, I seldom have time to re-read them, but, assuming I had the time, I would probably enjoy reading it again. I think the reader-critics are too harsh. I don't know what they are looking for. This was not going to be 50 Shades. It's a noble effort to answer a "what if" question and then make an pretty good effort to answer it in a romantic way. (This is not a fairy tale story. Women are giving up finding a decent man amount the poorly-raised losers out there and are opting for in vitro fertilization-it's a big industry. These women are quality women as Emma is. So, the "this would just never happen criticism, I think, is way off the mark.) In any case, Aiden was a womanizer, but he was a catch if he could get beyond this adolescent habit as most men eventually do. He was raised well, had great parents and siblings, a good education, is very intelligent and capable and makes a very good living. It is not difficult to understand Katie presenting a history of women beating a path to his door. None have been successful in cracking the Aiden code, although we do find out later that may not have been entirely true. But, a strong enough woman could probably do it and may yet. It'll have to wait for book which is on my wish list but I have not yet read. Any way, Emma is intelligent, powerful, creative and has always had the upper hand in the relationship, especially if she wanted to come in with the heavy weapons, but she undoes Aiden by using the gifts the Lord gave her - her feminine beauty, her feminine charm, her feminine intelligence, her feminine patience, her generous sensuality, her gentleness and the knowledge that those things can and have moved mountains. By the end of the first book, using these simple tools, Aiden's womanizing has crashed into a wall, figuratively speaking of course, and he is a mess and his options to regaining his footing are pretty narrowed down to one thing - start being a real man and not a child. Emma always saw this potential in him and it remains to be seen whether Aiden is going to catch on before he self destructs. He doesn't have many who support him right now, but what it will come down to is his dealing with his phobia that a relationship with Emma, or any woman, as a monogamous, devoted husband and an unconditionally supportive father to a child who would love him in return and benefit greatly from his/her father's presence, as all children do. These issues transcend the narrow case study in this story. But, I found the story romantic, Aiden was a wonderful lover to Emma and Emma clearly appreciated his attention and reciprocated. As a love story, I thought it was wonderfully done without any whips, chains, bars or specially painted rooms. Early on, Emma realized Aiden was a really good guy with a claustrophobic, womanizing habit, but Emma got him to promise to drop that pretty early on and it appeared he wanted to. That was over for Aiden at the point, but he just didn't know it. I love powerful women stories. Having three daughters, two of whom have chosen careers in which males have been the dominating influence. But, like Emma, they are not being men or males, but rather are being women and using their incredible feminine power to push away the roadblocks. Two are having solid, honest, romantic relationships with the men in their lives. This story is a good story for young woman who may not even be contemplating artificial insemination, but are looking for the motivation that comes from reading about powerful women taking care of business. .

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Proposition?

There were several good ones. Of course, the first intimate encounter between Emma and Aiden was very well done. Beau changing allegiances was really powerful. The new office vamp who pursues Aiden at the end, particularly her reaction to Aiden when she realized what a disgraceful person Aiden was being. I liked the polite exchange between the vamp and Emma which showed what strength of character Emma had.

Which character – as performed by Justine O. Keef – was your favorite?

Contrary to some of the criticism, I thought her segue from female voice to mail voice and keeping them absolutely consistent and believable was remarkable. Ms. O'Keef is one of the good readers. Some of the men were too much alike, but that was alright. Oddly, for me, I did not think she did Aiden well, or as well as she might have. Katie wrote Aiden as a likable, gentle, caring, considerate person, but many times his line was not delivered in that character. There were many times when I didn't like Aiden just because of the intonation in Ms. O'Keef's delivery. After a while, I got used to it and was able to retranslate the line in my head more in accordance with what I would have expected of him. Opinions may differ on this. I'm an old timer. Maybe men talk to women harshly like that these days. I certainly hope not.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I may not be the standard here. I tear up (damp eyes) when the price of fruit goes down. My emotional reaction to the book was not strong until nearly the very end when Aiden has just crashed his life into a stone wall and the question was from whom he was going to ask for help - of the few who might want to him help. He called the person who was likely to be the very hardest on him but, perhaps, the most likely to help him. This suggested to me, that Aiden realized he needed and wanted Emma back and that was not going to be easy. But we all knew Emma by then. She is sweet and forgiving and if Aiden could actually overcome his phobia and become a real man for the greater good of everybody, she just might take him back. With a beautiful wife and child, Aiden might find a contentment that the rest of we fathers feel with our lovely wives and children. But, to answer the question directly, I felt quite emotional toward the end of the story as I believe most would. The charity of unlikely dogs and people running to Emma's side from Beau to Becky and more no doubt to come. Aiden on the other hand has fallen into the depths of despair, he, acknowledges a stark realization about how a life mishandled can come back and bite you and then touchingly reaches out for help. Alll that was very well done and I liked it.

Any additional comments?

Let's get "The Pairing" the Companion Novel to "The Proposition" on audiobooks.

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